People tend to think in terms of what they want but don\u2019t have, as opposed to what they have and don\u2019t need. This is poignantly clear in the world of video streaming services. Outright cutting the cord hasn\u2019t trended as quickly as pundits predicted; instead, Netflix, Hulu, HBONow, Amazon Prime and the rest seem to be something that many buyers view as supplementary. But which one(s) should get their hard earned cash?<\/p>\n
That comes down to the content \u2014 who has the stuff everyone says they \u201cjust have to watch\u201d?<\/p>\n
For Hulu, \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale\u201d is the streaming service\u2019s big moment. And instead of treating this like a race, Hulu is treating the competitive landscape like a chess board.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale\u201d is based on a novel written by Margaret Atwood written in 1985, which has spent the last six weeks on the NYT Best Seller\u2019s list. It\u2019s the story of a very<\/em> near-future dystopia in which the religious right runs a military state after infertility rates dropped to a terrifying low. Women who are fertile, like main character Offred\/June, are forced to bear children (through rape) for the elite and their wives.<\/p>\n Hulu\u2019s original programming up to this point hasn\u2019t been bad, per se \u2014 shows like \u201cDifficult People\u201d and \u201cCasual\u201d have caught the attention of critics, and \u201cThe Mindy Project\u201d is a crowd-pleaser that left Fox for Hulu recently. But nothing in Hulu\u2019s original programming portfolio rivals series like Netflix\u2019s \u201cHouse of Cards\u201d and \u201cOrange Is The New Black\u201d or HBO\u2019s \u201cGame of Thrones.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale\u201d gives these shows a real run for their money, and finally makes a Hulu subscription an actual must-have, instead of a convenience.<\/p>\n For a long time, Hulu has been the streaming service that lets you catch up on recent television \u2014 you can watch last night\u2019s episode of \u201cScandal\u201d or \u201cSouth Park\u201d without having a proper cable subscription, or more importantly, without having to watch 20 minutes of live TV commercials.<\/p>\n Netflix, on the other hand, has focused on offering full series that are no longer on television (like all ten seasons of \u201cFriends\u201d) and worthwhile films, all complimented by high-quality original programming like \u201cHouse of Cards\u201d and \u201cMaking a Murderer.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale\u201d is the first Hulu original program that would entice me to purchase a Hulu subscription, if I didn\u2019t already have one. And if you love TV, you should consider it, too.<\/p>\n